Horton's Drift
by Maj. Wipeout
Summary: Ground Forces are a vital part of the war, not just the Air! Here we follow the life of a Male Tank Commander that can harness the magic of Witches and More.


The night was lit aflame with the burning husks of tanks. Screams echoed through the night as both men and women burned alive in their iron coffins. In the ruined city of Hasselt, amongst the numerous amounts of failed large-scale operations, this one, Operation Slotted Armadillo, was the worst. With 3 Armies from the Karlslandisch Wehrmacht, Britannian Army and the Orussian Army, they had more than 300,000 Combat Personnel, over 4,000 Light Tanks & Reconnaissance Vehicles, 3,000 Medium & Heavy Tanks and even 14 Heavy Railway Guns set up nearby. Even with all the manpower and equipment, one could really count on, they only managed to secure a little under 200 km2.

By the time they reached Hasselt, less than 10% of the original force remained. For 3 hours, the remaining men set up for a heavy defense, before they got hit by a massive beam that, when it impacted the ground, caused devastation equivalent to a Hydrogen Bomb, not that they knew what that was. The regular men disintegrated before many eyes until they too shared the same fate. Personnel in Vehicles weren't spared either, as the heat burned through light-armor, and turned the interiors of the heavier vehicles boiling, cooking their occupants inside-out. Very few actually survived, either they were inside the only reinforced underground bunker in the city, or they were Tank-Witches that had deployed at least a level 2 bubble-shield. Out of the 50 Medium Tanks that were in the City, only 1 had actually survived the blast.

OWO

Britannian Royal Armoured Corps

Yellow Regiment, 142nd Company

Cromwell Mk. V Command Tank

"Dark Horse"

[40 minutes after Initial Blast]

Lucas woke up with a start, his eyes peering into the darkness of his surroundings, arms outstretched to either end on his container. He lowered his aching arms and took a minute to remember what was happening. It all came rushing into his head. Where he was, what he was doing and why he was doing it. Looking around the interior of his tank, his eyes wandering around until he spotted something of interest. His eyes stopped at his Gunner, Malcom, who was sat against his seat, eyes wide but non-responsive. When Lucas's attempts at garnering attention from Malcom failed, he looked past him towards the driver's seat to see Georgina, his hull gunner, and Driver lying flat across the two seats near the front. He moved to check if they were still alive, which they were, then returned to the commander's hatch. He looked through the viewports to try and get an idea of what was happening but failed as he saw very little movement.

"Damn it, that blast must've been larger than I thought. The radio is still silent, but I have a feeling that the Antenna was destroyed." Lucas thought. He pulled out his Sten-gun and after ensuring that it was loaded, he slowly lifted the Commander's hatch. Doing a rudimentary scan of the area, he climbed out of his surprisingly undamaged tank. Once he was fully standing, he noticed all the charred bodies that surround his tank. He threw-up into his mouth but kept it back down.

Lucas brought his weapon to bear and dismounted the vehicle, taking care to avoid stepping on someone's remains. He moved quickly and nimbly toward the nearest tank, staying hidden in-case there were hostiles around. He clambered onto the tank and popped open the top hatch just to slam it back down quickly, the inside smelling like burned flesh. He grabbed the external Radio Rack and ran back to his vehicle. He hopped back to his seat to see his Driver and Gunner stirring.

"Mac, Georgie. How are you guys feeling?" Lucas asked quietly whilst setting up the 'Borrowed' Radio Rack.

"I got steam-rolled by a Bus. What the hell was that?" Mac replied, muttering. "How 'bout you Luke? I see you went out there, what's it like?"

"It's hell, Mac. I have no other way of saying it. It's lifeless out there, nothing moved but me." Lucas replied, a grim tone in his voice. "Georgie? You okay?" He asked, watching his driver stare out the view-port. He maneuvered his way through the internals of his vehicle and sat himself down next to her. "Georgina. Hey, look at me." Seeing no response, he turned and hugged her, forcefully pulling her from the view-port and the horrors of the external world.

Malcom, on the other hand, decided to look at the 'horrors' himself and pushed himself into the Commander's seat. He stared out of the multiple view-ports that surrounded him and whispered, "Oh...oh dear."

"' Oh dear' is an understatement, Mac." Lucas murmured as he came back to his seat after ensuring the Georgie is better. "Shove over, I need the outer radio, ours is dead."

"This is Captain Lucas Faraday Petrov of Britannia Yellow Regiment, 142nd Armoured Company. Does anyone read me on this frequency?"

"Captain Petrov, this is Oberstleutnant Kurt Guderian, of the 7th Panzer Division. We are currently 100 km away from your marked position. We saw the blast all the way from Calais Airfield, what happened?"

"Herr Oberstleutnant, we were hit by a massive Land-Type Neuroi. Its larger than the ones that Misfits Squad fought in Egypt! Our artillery didn't scratch it, even shells from our Tank Witches did little more than make a dent it. The Neuroi didn't hit us with beams either. The shot that hit us was detached, like a shell from the Schwerer Gustav but glowing red." Lucas paused to let the data get across, then proceeded. "Sir, how do we proceed? As far as I can see, most of the men here are charred to death, those inside vehicles were boiled alive. I am too far away from the Witches Company to see what is happening on their end, but I have not been able to get in contact with them."

The radio from the Oberstleutnant's side was activated, but no voice came through, only the sound of engines and wheels. Eventually, the voice came back. "Captain, do a casualty report and begin logistics checks. We should arrive within an hour and a half. Those bodies that are recognizable, please recover them. Those that are not, attempt to find their tags. That is all."

Hearing the radio shut off for good, Lucas attempted to get in contact with the Witches Company once more, with no effect. He shook his head as he put down the receiver and turned to his crew. "You heard the man, Mac get out there and do Logistics. Once I get Georgie squared away, I'll come out and join you."

"So... basically you want me to go out there and look for survivors?" Malcom asked with uncertainty.

"Yeap, I'll find you as soon as I am done here," Lucas replied whilst grabbing his SMG. "Here Mac, take this with you, it's not much, but it's better than going unarmed." He says as he hands Malcom the gun.

Once Malcom has left the vehicle, he turned back to the still shell-shocked girl. "Hey Georgie, I'm gonna head out and help Mac. You can just stay here and keep on the radio. Is that ok?"

Georgina shook her head, not trusting her voice. She made no move towards Lucas, just scrunching up her legs to her chest and hugging them.

"Georgie, I understand that it's horrid out there, and I'm not asking you to come out with me, just stay by the radio, that's all I ask. Ok?" Lucas asked again, in a softer and quieter tone. This time, Georgina made little sniffles and nodded.

Despite the uncertainty, he nodded and climbed out of the vehicle. He looked out once more into the painful expanse of bodies, steeled his heart and nerves, and began combing through them as per his orders.

OWO

Britannian Royal Armoured Corps

Yellow Regiment, 142nd Company

Cromwell Mk. V Command Tank

"Dark Horse"

[120 minutes after Initial Blast]

Lucas grabbed the last dog-tag off of an unrecognizable body in his sector. He began walking back to his vehicle, hands full of tags. "Damn this, not a single man was still alive, and out of the 20 bodies we can recover, only 3 were recognizable. Makes me extremely grateful that we survived." He moved quickly back to his vehicle; He had only just regrouped with Malcom when he noticed a very unwelcome sight. "NEUROI! Get in quick!" He yells as he pushes Malcom into the vehicle. He then hops in, quickly grabbing a HE Shell from the Ammo Stowage and loading into the gun. "Gunner, Front, 30 degrees East, negative 2 degrees Deep!"

Malcom, in his gunner seat, churns the crank as fast as he was able, turning the turret to the aforementioned position. "Eyes! Neuroi Infantry Type, Heavy! Ready!"

"Fire with cox!"

Malcom fires his main gun and began following up with machinegun fire from his coaxial 7.92mm BESA MG. "Fire effective, additional target East, Neuroi Infantry Type, Heavy!"

Lucas returned to the Ammo Stowage and pulled out another HE Shell, loading it into the shaft. "Loaded!"

"Firing! Fire Effe... Oh no." Malcom reported, stopping abruptly when something far larger entered his sights.

"Mac? What is it?" Lucas asked as he loaded another Shell. Getting no response, he clambered back to the command seat to use the view-ports. There he saw it. A Large, Turtle-class Neuroi, moving slowly towards them. With only HE Shells remaining in the Stowage, they had no way of engaging and effectively destroying the monstrosity. He had contemplated simply not reacting and hoping that it would assume they were dead. After all, their tracks had been blown off, and their hull had a fairly scorched exterior, even compared to the other, more destroyed tanks.

"Shit Mac, we ain't surviving this one. Hit the rear leg, maybe we can stumble it." Lucas yells as he grasps his Sten. He pops open the commander's hatch and begins to fire at the hulking mass which is the Neuroi. As soon as the shell from the Tank hits the rear leg, as expected, the leg buckled, and the Neuroi reared back as it attempted to gain balance.

Lucas quickly reloads his gun when he noticed that there was something distinctly different about his hands. A black sleeve, almost glove-like, with many little white shiny dots, like sprinkles decorated it. 'That wasn't there before was it?' He thought as he stares at his hands. He turns his hand over, palms up to see a little blue circle, almost like the moon decorating the sleeve that covered his hand. He shook his head and focused back on the Neuroi in front of him. 'Bah! I'll bother about this later if I survive that is.' He attempts to fire again, but this time he noticed that his first shot almost made him lose control of the gun. The recoil was so strong that the barrel was staring at the sky. Staring in bewilderment at the shot that flew towards the Neuroi, he noticed the bullet was glowing blue. Upon contact with the Neuroi however, the bullet made a massive explosion, equivalent to that of the tank shell.

"Hey, Luke! What the hell was that? Did reinforcements arrive?" Malcom shouted as he stared into his gunner sights.

Lucas quickly replied with a no and told him to continue firing. Staring at the gun once more, he braced himself for another shot and true enough, a similar effect happened. Thinking less about the logic behind it and more towards the effectiveness of it, he pulled the empty commander's mount, where a 7.7mm BESA MG would normally reside, towards him and fitted his Sten gun into the mount as best as he could. It was grossly fitted as the size variation is too great, but he made it work nonetheless. He steadied himself and pulled the trigger. All 30 bullets that remained in the magazine began streaming out the barrel, each shot causing more stress on the barrel than the last.

Eventually, all the shots have cleared from the mag and he pulled the trigger once more to ensure that the mag truly was empty, just to hear a loud chunk, before the entire gun mechanism disassembled itself. 'Damn. What the hell kind of gun is this?'

"Oi! Luke! Lucas! Get yourself together buddy, you wanna tell me what the hell that was about?" Malcom yelled, trying to get Lucas' attention.

Lucas on the other hand just stayed still, staring at the carnage that the gun made. Forget the Neuroi, the entire forest in which the Neuroi came from did not exist. He turned a little, just enough to see Malcom. "I don't know man, I just started firing these really powerful explosive bullets. I just don't bloody know."

OWO

**Heyo, just a new little idea I had and was starting to work on. This story does follow canon, but you won't see most of it because we will be following more grounded forces than air force. Hop to see you all next week!**


End file.
